Comparison of Defense Mechanisms in Women with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Versus Ordinary Counterparts

Background and Purpose: Epilepsy is one of the most prevalent neurological disorders, that being afflicted has numerous physical, psychological and social consequences. On the other hand, defense mechanisms are responsible for protecting (a person) against the stresses, anxieties and pressures of everyday life. The present study was undertaken with the aim of investigating the defense mechanisms of epilepsy patients and a non-clinical group. Materials & Methods: The research design was based on causal-comparative case study. The statistical population of the study is consisted of all epileptic women and their normal counterparts referred to Khatam ol anbia Hospital during the first half of 2019. The research sample was selected by means of the convenience sampling approach, for which 40 women with epilepsy were recruited and compared to their 40 normal counterparts, so that the two studied groups were similar in terms of age, education and marital status. Research data were gathered using the Andrews Defense Mechanism Questionnaire (DSQ40) and were analyzed by SPSS24 software employing multivariate statistical analysis of variance. Results: There is a significant difference (p<0.05) between the defense mechanism used in epileptic women and that of healthy women. Conclusion: This is a subject based study in which some of the psychological factors in epilepsy have been investigated and in line with previous theories regarding the close association between mental components and physical illnesses .epilepsy uses mechanism that psychiatric theorists see as gateway to physical and psychological abnormalities . Consequently, it can be ascertained that women with epilepsy have different defense and are more likely to use immature mechanisms in comparison with normal women. mechanisms.

کلیدواژه ها:

defense mechanisms ، epilepsy